The present invention relates to the use of isolongifolenone analogs to repel arthropods by treating an object or area with an arthropod repelling effective amount of at least one isolongifolenone analog (and optionally a carrier or carrier material).
Diseases transmitted by blood-feeding arthropods are a serious threat to public health worldwide. More than 700 million cases of mosquito transmitted disease were reported annually (Shell, E. R., Atlantic Monthly, pp. 45-60, August 1997:. Over three billion people live under the threat of malaria, which kills over a million people each year (WHO World Malaria Report 2005, Roll Back Malaria, World Health Organization, UNICEF, http://rbm.who.int/wmr2005). In the United States, West Nile virus was transmitted by mosquitoes to more than 8,000 people from 1999-2005, resulting in over 780 deaths (DeBiasi, R. L., and K. L. Tyler, Nat. Clin. Pract. Neurol., 2:264-275 (2006)). N,N-Diethyltoluamide (Deet) is considered to be the best insect repellent ever developed and is the most widely used insect repellent worldwide with tens of millions of dollars in annual sales (Osimitz, T. G., and R. H. Grothaus, J. Am. Mosq. Control. Assoc., 11: 274-278 (1995)). However, Deet dissolves plastics and paints and clinical literature reports the association of Deet with neurotoxicity in humans (Robbins, P. J., and M. G. Cherniack, J. Toxicol. Environ. Health, 18: 503-525 (1986)). Thus, there is a great need for effective alternatives to Deet.
We previously found that (−)-isolongifolenone, which occurs in nature in trace amounts, is more effective than Deet in repelling ticks and deterring feeding mosquitoes. With high repellent efficiency, this compound will allow much wider application by the public and the military. We have also found that some isolongifolenone analogs have repellent and deterrent activities comparable to isolongifolenone. Therefore, isolongifolenone- and some isolongifolenone analogs have a great potential to displace Deet in the worldwide repellent market.